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Walked in for a 5S, came out with a 5

J

jebbe

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
490
8
Louisville, KY
Normally I've never had an issue buying a new iPhone cause I always buy the largest capacity and most people usually buy the smallest cause it's cheapest.

This year I figured it wouldn't be any different, I sold my iPhone 4S, went to one of my local AT&T stores and has to wait for 2 hours.

After finally waiting I met with my sales person who was probably the best one I've ever dealt with. Needless to say, she couldn't find a single iPhone 5S in a single AT&T store in all of Kentucky(where I live). Given I had already sold my phone, she felt bad(or acted so) and found out they had no idea of another shipment for another 21-28 days.

So i told her to just bring me out some of the 32gb 5c. She had 3 left, one in green, blue and pink haha. After playing with the demo model, I wasn't the plastic backing, it reminded me too much of the iPhone 3G, which broke easily haha.

In the middle of a conversation she mentioned something about the original 5, and I said "Well, I'd certainly take one of those over the 5c any day". She then told me they still had some of those in the back, so she found a black 32gb model(I still prefer the 64gb model).

So after all the waiting and her trying to track some down for me, I ended up walking out with a 5 and I honestly couldn't be happier. I didn't think I'd notice much of a difference from my 4S but man it's so much faster. So if you're someone who's holding out and you have a 4 or 4S, just go with the 5 and you won't be disappointed.

She did tell me that if I can find a 5S in inventory in the next 14 days I can return it, and get one of those. I may stick with the 5 for now unless I can get ahold of a 5S and I can convince them to not make me pay the restocking fee haha.

I bought it with AT&T's Next program, so in 12 months I can upgrade to whatever is new anyways.
 
I have the iPhone 5 and with iOS 7 it's like a new phone again. I runs all of iOS 7's features, and well, so, you should be happy with it for at least a year if not two. The processor in the iPhone 5 (same in 5c) was not just an incremental step up from the 4S, but it was a bigger jump than any previous new iPhone, in terms of raw processing power. So, I think it'll do the next couple iOS's just fine.

You've got AirDrop, but, that is one feature that requires newer hardware (wifi direct), which only the iPhone 5 & newer has (& latest iPod touch, iPad Mini, iPad 4 & newer), so you will not be able to AirDrop with those that have iOS 7 but on, say iPhone 4S.
 
Dont worry. You only missed a slightly better camera and a gimmick that saves you 3 seconds of your oh so precious time lol
 
I was all hyped up to get the 5S as I already have the 5. After downloading iOS 7, seeing how it functions the same as the 5S and analyzing the price difference, my desire essentially went away. It may have something to do with me getting a brand new replacement 5 less than a week ago for 53 bucks.. :D
 
I would take a 5 over 5C any day. I hate the color choices. Removing black as an option was a very brilliant choice on there part....now you have to pay a minimum of $100 more to get a black iPhone.
 
fraggot said:
Normally I've never had an issue buying a new iPhone cause I always buy the largest capacity and most people usually buy the smallest cause it's cheapest.

This year I figured it wouldn't be any different, I sold my iPhone 4S, went to one of my local AT&T stores and has to wait for 2 hours.

After finally waiting I met with my sales person who was probably the best one I've ever dealt with. Needless to say, she couldn't find a single iPhone 5S in a single AT&T store in all of Kentucky(where I live). Given I had already sold my phone, she felt bad(or acted so) and found out they had no idea of another shipment for another 21-28 days.

So i told her to just bring me out some of the 32gb 5c. She had 3 left, one in green, blue and pink haha. After playing with the demo model, I wasn't the plastic backing, it reminded me too much of the iPhone 3G, which broke easily haha.

In the middle of a conversation she mentioned something about the original 5, and I said "Well, I'd certainly take one of those over the 5c any day". She then told me they still had some of those in the back, so she found a black 32gb model(I still prefer the 64gb model).

So after all the waiting and her trying to track some down for me, I ended up walking out with a 5 and I honestly couldn't be happier. I didn't think I'd notice much of a difference from my 4S but man it's so much faster. So if you're someone who's holding out and you have a 4 or 4S, just go with the 5 and you won't be disappointed.

She did tell me that if I can find a 5S in inventory in the next 14 days I can return it, and get one of those. I may stick with the 5 for now unless I can get ahold of a 5S and I can convince them to not make me pay the restocking fee haha.

I bought it with AT&T's Next program, so in 12 months I can upgrade to whatever is new anyways.
Click to expand...

You made an excellent decision!

I too kept my flawless iP5, It's BLACK my favorite color, it runs 7 and doesn't have Apples latest talking point / gimmick - fingerprint reader.

Security / Privacy is a thing of the past. Don't believe it... you're uniformed.

Mark my word, iPhone 6 will be a milestone in progress and efficiency, a phone that will blow every other competitor away. THAT will be the phone to have :)
 
It only sounds like a good deal until you consider the real price of these devices. It's the same reason the 5C seems so absurd. If you get a 5C (or 5) for $100 on contract, that doesn't mean you got it for half price. In reality you got a 15% discount (assuming 5S $650, 5C $550, which I believe is correct).

I think we need to start an awareness campaign for the true cost of cell phones on plan, because people think they're really buying iPhones for $200.

Not that there's anything wrong with the 5, it's still an amazing device. It's also the only way to get an actual black iPhone now if that's what you prefer. My point is that these prices are misleading to people in terms of relative device cost.
 
fraggot said:
Normally I've never had an issue buying a new iPhone cause I always buy the largest capacity and most people usually buy the smallest cause it's cheapest.....................
Click to expand...
What you did was a good decision. My only recommendation is to keep looking for that 5S. It's a darn nice phone. I have come to really like the fingerprint scanner and the slow motion video feature which is not on the iPhone 5. The camera is also awesome.

Those who stuck with their iPhone 5 will, of course, call the new features of the 5S "gimmicky" but that just to justify their decision.

Keep plugging away for that phone you REALLY want.
 
Last edited:
Chris Blount said:
What you did was a good decision. My only recommendation is to keep looking for that 5S. It's a darn nice phone. I have come to really like the fingerprint scanner and the slow motion video feature which is not on the iPhone 5.

Those who stuck with their iPhone 5 will, of course, call the new features of the 5S "gimmicky" but that just to justify their decision.

Keep plugging away for that phone you REALLY want.
Click to expand...

We can all afford a 5S trust me. Get the phone unlocked for $5 and sell it to some sucker on eBay or craigslist for $500. That leaves about $200 difference which is about the upgrade price. Me personally, I have $2500 burning in my pockets and I spent 1k on this new shiny macbook pro, so money isn't an issue. I just don't think it's really a good upgrade.
 
I would return it and get the 5s as the difference in price is not much. Heck, you spend that much going out with friends. You're talking about a phone that you'll be using everyday...it's worth it. Don't get me wrong, the 5 is a good phone but the 5s is better phone.
 
I got a 5 instead of a 5s, couldn't be happier (then again, I was upgrading from a 4 lol). The 5s didn't offer me anything that the 5 couldn't do (don't care about the fingerprint sensor and it only got a minor upgrade to the camera).
 
Sorry, but even if you feel good about your purchase, you not only got an older phone, for what is probably the old price, but you got it on AT&T NEXT. You really made a few bad choices in a row, money wise.
 
tymaster50 said:
Dont worry. You only missed a slightly better camera and a gimmick that saves you 3 seconds of your oh so precious time lol
Click to expand...

You know, I thought it was a gimmick too. Then I realized that I unlock my phone often. Three seconds times fifty times a day times 365 days a year... That's over fifteen hours saved if you do the math.

I did the math to be sort of ironic, but it is pretty convenient. I'm really hoping apps like paypal, banking, etc start using this alongside traditional passwords.
 
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